Little Lemur Lost
by Fairy the Penguin
Summary: Mort has found himself alone in the zoo. Where is everyone? And who is this stranger that looks just like him? There is something more going on than there appears. Rated K plus for safety.
1. Chapter 1: Abandoned

**Don't ask. I have no idea where this story came from. I really do like Mort, though it might be hard to tell from the contents of this story. And yes, pretty much all the chapters will be short. Sorry. I did that for the purpose of suspense.**

Chapter 1: Abandoned

Mort was alone. All alone. The entire zoo was empty of it's inhabitants. He ran about on his tiny feet as fast as possible, looking this way and that for somebody; anybody. But there was no one.

"Where did all the peoples go?!" he shouted at the top of his small lungs.

Then he began his frantic search once more. But as he reached his own habitat, still without having encountered a single soul, something inside him snapped. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, crying his overly large eyes out.

The mouse lemur remained that way for a while, before he finally cried himself to sleep.

When he woke up, he tried to figure out what to do next. No one was in the zoo. Maybe everyone had left the zoo. But why was he still there then? Mort decided to leave and go look for the other animals. As he approached the high gates, he noticed a wall of white outside. He thought it was fog; there wasn't anything else it could have been. Unless it was marshmallow. But that didn't make any sense. Why would there be a wall of marshmallow surrounding the zoo?

The lower primate stepped under the arch, and the wall of white got thicker. As he entered it, Mort realized it was indeed fog. A very thick, cold fog. It seemed to take forever to move through it, but he eventually got to the other side.

Only it wasn't the other side at all. He was walking back through the gates of the zoo. Like he had merely gone in a circle. But he hadn't been aware of making any turns. As far as he knew, he had walked in a straight line. Mort didn't know how to do a lot of things, but he at least knew how to walk a straight line.

So how had he got back to where he had started? All this thinking was making his tiny brain hurt. We made his way back to the lemur habitat, hoping against hope that King Julien and Maurice would be there, to rest for a minute. Of course they weren't. But a stranger was.

**Short chapter galore in this story. All on purpose. Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2: No way out

**Another reason why they're short, besides to build suspense, is so I can upload a bunch at once.**

Chapter 2: No way out

Mort stared in a mixture of shock and relief at the strange lemur. It looked like him, yet somehow it didn't. It was the stranger's eyes that gave it away. Even from the distance of the enclosure wall, Mort could see that those eyes were different from his own. Not in color or size, but in the expression. The expression in those eyes reminded him of the eyes of someone else that he knew. But at the moment he couldn't quite remember who.

That wasn't really important to him right now anyway. What was important was the fact that he wasn't alone like he had feared. He jumped down and raced toward the other lemur in joy. But as he reached the stranger, he was suddenly slapped in the face.

Mort's happiness turned to hurt surprise. He hadn't done anything wrong. So why had he been slapped just now? The stranger looked at him sternly and coldly.

"W-why did you hit me? Do you not like the huggies?"

The mouse lemur's eyes narrowed in disdain. But he didn't respond.

"Uh...why do you say nothing? Did I make you that angry? I'm sorry," Mort apologized as his eyes started to fill with tears.

The stranger sighed in exasperation as he shook his head. He gestured with one hand for Mort to follow, before leaving the habitat. The little lemur dried his eyes and hurried after the mysterious figure. As he caught up to him, he started to talk for the first time.

"You saw it, right? The wall of fog around the zoo?"

Mort nodded, not daring to speak. He realized that the stranger not only looked like him, but his voice sounded like his as well. Only their patterns of speech were different. After a pause the stranger continued.

"You tried to get through it, didn't you? And ended up right back here?"

Again Mort nodded yes.

"Thought so. Look, you're going to learn some strange things while you're here."

Mort interrupted.

"Excuse me, but...how long will I be here and when am I going home?"

The other lemur glared at the interruption.

"How long? That's unknown. When are you going home? Open those big eyes man! You already tried to leave. Did you figure it out? There's no way to get through the fog; no way out of this zoo. You're trapped here."

"Trapped! For how long?"

"Unknown. You might never leave."

-

**I'd do the "dun dun DUN" thing, but, meh. Review please.**


	3. Chapter 3: Mort's new friend

**Uh...yeah. No comment.**

Chapter 3: Mort's new friend

Needless to say, Mort was dismayed by the thought that he would be trapped all alone forever. Well...not all alone.

"Hey, who are you? You never did say."

This just earned him another glare. As if his questions annoyed the other mouse lemur for some reason.

"I should have known you wouldn't have figured that out either. I'm you. Part of you anyway."

Mort just stared in confusion. He didn't understand this at all. Did the other lemur mean that his name was also Mort? Or did he mean something else? The other lemur smacked himself in the forehead suddenly.

"You still don't get it. Okay, even though you probably won't understand, I'll try and explain. Okay?"

"Okay," Mort nodded happily.

"Alright. I'm you. I'm the part of you that was awakened when you were trained by the penguins after King Julien exiled you for touching his feet. I'm a tough commando who's not completely stupid. Like you are. Got it?"

Mort thought about it really hard trying to figure it out. Finally, he came to a conclusion that seemed to fit what the other was saying.

"You're a lemur version of the penguins. Right?"

The other Mort face palmed again.

"Yes. In a way I suppose I am. But I'm still you."

"Oh. So you're like one of the penguins turned into me?"

At this point Mort 2 decided just to forget about explaining. It wasn't going to work with the real Mort anyway.

"What do I call you? Penguin Mort? Does that sound good to you?"

Mort 2 glared at this. If he opened his mouth to try and straighten things out again, he'd probably make the situation worse. It would be better to just let it go.

"Yeah, sure; whatever. Listen, Mort. You're trapped here in this zoo. But it isn't your zoo."

"But...if this isn't my zoo, then what is it?"

Mort 2 paused. This was going to be the hard part: explaining exactly where Mort really was.

"Tell me something first. What do you remember before this?"

-

**Cliffhanger-o-rama. Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4: Trying to figure things out

**...**

Chapter 4: Trying to figure things out

Remembering things wasn't something that Mort was good at. But he tried hard for his new friend. Mainly because Penguin Mort, as he called him, looked ready to slap him.

"Well...I had gone over to the penguins' place because I thought I had dropped a mango down there. I fell, and found my mango. And that was good. I like mangoes. Then...uh...there was all this loud noise and a bright light, I closed my eyes because it was so bright. When I opened them, there was no one there. I went out of the penguins' place and found that there was no one else anywhere in the zoo. I cried, and slept. Then I tried to leave but ended up back here. Oh, and then I met you and you brought me here. And then we started talking and," Penguin Mort interrupted before Mort could start the story all over again.

"Okay, okay. I get it. There was a loud noise and a bright light, huh? I'm not that smart, no part of you is that smart, so I can't tell you what that's all about. But I'd bet you a crate load of mangoes that whatever happened in the penguin HQ is why you're here now."

Mort was happy. Penguin Mort seemed pleased with what he had told him, and was apparently going to give him a crate load of mangoes.

"Yay! Mangoes!" he hugged his other self. The other mouse lemur glowered at this before showing Mort off.

"This is no time for huggies! We have to think, we have to act we have to...," he noticed the blank expression on the mouse lemur's face and sighed in defeat. "Fine. We'll get you some mangoes."

"Yay!"

The two little lemurs made their way to the storage building where the zoo keeps all the food for the animals. Penguin Mort wanted to be stealthy about it, even though there wasn't any real reason to, but Mort just charged ahead. They reached the building, and found a way inside. But Mort was sadly disappointed. There was nothing in the building. He would have cried, but Penguin Mort slapped him.

"Pull yourself together man! We've got a mystery to solve! Unless you don't want to go back home?"

This took the sting out of both the slap and the disappointment. Mort wanted very much to go home. Back to where his friends were, where mangoes were, and where King Julien's feet were. He shook his head sadly and wiped his eyes.

"Good. Now let's go to the penguins' HQ. Maybe we can find something there that will help us understand just what happened to bring you here."

"Alright. You lead, and I will follow." Mort giggled a bit, instantly brightening.

Penguin Mort merely shook his head in exasperation before heading back out to the zoo, with the other mouse lemur following him quickly.

-

**Poor Mort. No mangoes, only slaps. Please review.**


	5. Chapter 5: Memories

**NOW we're starting to get somewhere.**

-

Chapter 5: Memories

Penguin Mort decided to substitute speed for stealth. He had a gut feeling that time was not on his side. He had to get Mort back home and back home soon. But he didn't know why or, more importantly, how he was going to do that. He would figure it out though.

The two lemurs reached the penguin habitat. It looked just the same as it always did. A pool of water with a concrete ice floe sitting in the middle. A food bowl in the ice floe that concealed the secret entrance to the underground bunker.

They jumped to the top of the fence, and from there to the ice floe. Once there Penguin Mort pried open the food bowl and made his way down the ladder. Mort happily followed. He didn't know why his new friend was in such a hurry though.

The bunker was just as empty as the rest of the zoo. But for some reason, the TV was on. At the moment all it was showing was a bunch of static. But Penguin Mort found this highly suspicious. The other lemur was glad to see the TV.

"Yay! Let's watch some TV," he cried out with a smile as he rushed to the place where Skipper had once said that he keeps the remote.

"We don't have time for this Mort! We have to-," but he never got to finish that sentence. The original had already grabbed the remote and was busy flipping through channels. And what was on shocked the doppelganger into silence.

The TV showed flashes of memories from Mort's life. Dancing with the other two lemurs. Getting kicked for hugging King Julien's feet. Eating mangoes. Bothering the penguins.

"Hey, I'm on TV! Yay!"

Penguin Mort was aghast by the memories that were flickering by on the screen. He had a horrible feeling what it all meant. And the next memory that appeared confirmed it.

Mort had come tumbling down into the bunker looking for his mango. The fruit had rolled all the way across the room stopping right in front of the door leading into Kowalski's lab. The mouse lemur had just run over to it and picked it up, when there was an explosion from the room that sent both the door and lemur flying. Mort was slammed into the opposite wall, and was then crushed by the door.

After that was a confusion of noise and action. The penguins panicking, King Julien coming to see what all the fuss was about, Mort being rushed to the vet with his body broken. And that was where everything ended. The TV then went back to static.

Mort was saddened by this. Not by the memory, he hadn't really been paying close enough attention to understand what was being shown, but by the fact that the TV wasn't working anymore. Penguin Mort, on the other hand, had understood what had been shown.

"Mort. Do you realize what this means?"

"Uh...that Mort is a TV star?"

"No! This means that you might be dead!"

-

**D: And there you have it. The big reveal. Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6: Beyond the veil

**Yeah, I know. This sort of thing has been done before. Why with Mort? I like Mort.**

Chapter 6: Beyond the veil

"I'm...dead?"

Penguin Mort sighed in exasperation. This was the third time they had been over it since he had said it. It was getting a little tiresome.

"You might be. The memories flashing before you are kind of like the ones you see before you die."

"But...if I'm dead...why am I still in the zoo? Is Heaven a zoo?"

Penguin Mort merely glared at this.

"No, I don't think Heaven is a zoo."

Mort gasped in fear suddenly.

"Then...then is this the other place? The one where bad lemurs go? I'm not a bad lemur!" His eyes started to fill up with tears.

Penguin Mort was pacing back and forth, trying frantically to figure all this out. If Mort was dead, then why was he here? That's when it hit him.

"First off, stop with the water works. Crying never solved anything."

"Okay...," Mort sadly dried his eyes.

"Secondly, I don't think you're dead yet."

"Hooray! I'm not dead!" The little lemur hugged his double in joy.

Eventually Penguin Mort managed to break out of his double's grip. It was a very strong grip too.

"I said yet. You might still die. We have to make sure that you don't. That must be why I'm here; to help you live."

"So...I might still die?"

"Yes, you might still die. But I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Yay! Bossy Me is going to help me to live!"

Mort rushed to hug the other lemur, but got stopped short by a slap in the face.

"Okay, listen. I have to help you to live. So I guess that means finding you a reason to keep on living. Think other me. What do you care about most in the world? What would you give up all else for?"

Mort had to think hard about this one. What would he gladly sacrifice himself for? The only thing he could think of was King Julien and his feet. But was that really enough? When Julien had wanted to sacrifice him to the Sky Spirits when they had gotten angry, he had run away. So was that really the reason to keep living?

He suddenly felt a terrible pain all over his small body. As if he were being crushed under a great weight. Was that what it felt like to die? If so it was horrible.

"No! Mort! Quick; there must be something! Don't give up!"

But Mort couldn't think. He just wanted the pain to go away. From an incredibly long distance he thought he heard people talking. Talking about him?

"I can't stop the bleeding!"

"I think we're losing him!"

"Doctor, you have to do something!"

It was getting hard to hear anything anymore. He just wanted it all to go away. Mort suddenly found himself falling. Was it all over?

-

**Could Mort really be dead? Come on. What kind of heartless jerk would kill such a cute thing like him? Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7: The end

**Now you get to find out if he's dead or not. This is a longer chapter for a reason.  
**

Chapter 7: The end

All Mort could see was a swirling fog. He thought he could hear someone calling his name. But where was the voice coming from? And where was he anyway?

"Mort! Mort! Where are you?!"

The mouse lemur looked in all directions, but all he could see white. Where was the person who was calling him? And how had he gotten here?

"Mort! You need to come back!"

Come back to where? How can he come back when he didn't know where he was? He saw a faint light ahead of him in the fog. Was that where the voice was coming from? He started to head toward it.

"No! Don't go over there Mort! Don't go into the light!"

But the light looked so inviting. And the fog was so cold. He just wanted to get out.

"Mort! If you go that way you'll never get back home!"

Home? What was the voice talking about? It was a struggle for him to do so, but Mort thought really hard about it. And the faint memory of a place filled with animals came back to him. Animals that he knew. But he couldn't see their faces clearly or remember their names. He took a small step backwards.

"That's it! You can do it! Come back! Come back to where you're wanted!"

He was wanted? In what way? Not in a criminal way, he hoped. But he got a feeling that it wasn't in that way. No, he felt like it was in a different way. A good way. He took another step back.

"They need you Mort! You have to turn away from the light! It's not your time yet!"

Time for what? And who needed him? The memory became clearer now. Two lemurs, a fat gray one and a tall one with a ring tail and crown. A group of four penguins. An otter. His friends. He turned his back on the light and started to run.

He still couldn't see anything, but it was away from the light so it had to be the right direction. Suddenly he spotted tall gates that also looked familiar. He rushed under the archway and found himself in the zoo. All his memories came back at that point.

Penguin Mort was standing there, and he did not look happy. At this point the lemur didn't care; he was just glad to see a familiar face. So it was no wonder that he burst into tears. His double let this go on for a little while, before grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him roughly.

"I already said that crying never solves anything. So quit with the water works. Come on. We need to find a way to get you back."

Mort sniffled. "I'm not back yet?"

"Of course not. You're back where you started though. Which is good. Considering that you nearly died."

"Oh. Is that what the pretty light was?"

Penguin Mort face palmed.

"Yes, that's what it was. That was the light that leads souls to Heaven."

"So I'm a good lemur after all and won't be going down to the bad place?"

Mort got slapped. As he was rubbing his stinging cheek, Penguin Mort tried to calm down.

"You managed to turn away from the light, and that's good. Now a reason to keep living. What made you turn back?"

Mort thought about it again. What the voice had said to him in the fog.

"Well...something about being needed by others. Then I remembered my friends."

Penguin Mort looked hard at him.

"You turned back because of your friends?"

"Yes. This was a good thing, right?"

"A very good thing. That's your reason for living. Focus on your friends. How much each one means to you. And think about what things would be like for them if you weren't around. That should give you the will to fight on."

"Okay," Mort smiled cheerfully.

And with that he closed his eyes and began to imagine how much he loved all his friends, and how sad they'd be without him. He knew even King Julien would be sad without him around. He had found that out before when he had gotten trapped in a vending machine. Suddenly he heard sounds again.

"He's finally stabilized."

"It looks like the little guy is going to make it."

"Oh thank Heavens, Doc. You're a miracle worker."

Suddenly Mort's body felt lighter. Was he dying? There was no pain this time. He opened his eyes to see Penguin Mort smiling for the first time since he met him.

"Looks like you did it. Good job solider."

Mort was confused.

"What did I do?"

"You made it. You're going to live. Look, you're already starting to fade. You're going back now."

Mort looked down and was surprised to see that he could see right through his body. But then he realized something, and his joy turned to sadness.

"What about you Penguin Mort? Aren't you coming too?"

The other lemur shook his head a little morosely.

"No, I can't go. I'm not really real. I'm just a part of you."

"So...since you're a part of me...you are coming?"

"Yes and no. I'm coming, but only in your mind. I won't be real anymore outside of this place. We won't met like this again."

Mort's eyes began to fill up with tears.

"So I won't get to play with you?"

"No. But I'm still inside you. So I'm not gone."

"I was hoping that we'd get to play though..."

"I know," Penguin Mort said his own eyes beginning to fill with tears. "But you can play extra hard for both of us. Alright?"

"Okay...," Mort agreed without much enthusiasm.

"Come on. No more tears. Crying doesn't solve anything," Penguin Mort said with a smile.

"Okay," Mort smiled back.

He waved as he faded completely.

**I honest to goodness cried when I wrote this chapter. Please review.**


	8. Chapter 8: Epilogue

**Yay! Mort lives! Short chapter. But what do you expect? It's the epilogue after all.  
**

Epilogue: Home again

Mort woke up in a room that had walls with bunnies painted on them and a bunny mobile on the ceiling. He liked the room. There was a tapping on something. He tried to sit up, and couldn't. He was in a full body cast. But then a voice came.

"Sad Eyes, you awake in there?"

He recognized it as belonging to the bossy penguin; the one called Skipper. He has a flat head. Mort giggled silently at that memory.

"Skipper, shouldn't we let him rest? I mean, he has been through a lot."

That voice belonged to the smallest penguin, Private.

"I am wanting to know if the least of my subjects is being alive or not. And I am not leaving until I am finding out."

That voice he knew very well. It belonged to his beloved King Julien. He knew that the king would have missed him. That made him warm with happiness.

"It's only logical that he would be alive. They don't put dead bodies in recovery rooms," that came from the brainy penguin Kowalski.

"How do you know? Maybe they are needing his body for something later and so they are storing it."

An argument ensued about whether or not dead bodies were stored in recovery rooms, and for what purpose such a thing would be done. Mort giggled to himself again at this.

"Hey guys! I'm alright! Penguin Mort helped me to come home again!"

There was a moment of silence at this proclamation. Mort then had to go into an explanation of who Penguin Mort was, and what exactly had happened. They didn't believe him of course. But that didn't matter. Mort was simply glad to be back.

Now if only he could get the casts off. They were really itchy.

The End

**And so ends the incredibly short story. Please review.**


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